The Workforce AI Index · Industrials
American Airlines (AAL)
An airline counted as full-time equivalents. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-18. Ranked 13 of the 28 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
An airline whose filing states a full-time equivalent total, a union share and the mainline and regional split, read entirely into the scheduled air transportation pattern.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 17% now, 20% at the end of 2027, 21% at the end of 2028, 21% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 21% desk work, 27% people work and 52% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 79% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 15% becomes checking a model's work and 6% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
139,100 employees as of 2025-12-31 (full-time equivalent). The filing does not state a count by country; 33,100 of the full-time equivalents are at its wholly-owned regional airline subsidiaries and about 106,000 at American itself.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 139,100 active full-time equivalent employees, approximately 86% of whom were represented by various labor unions responsible for negotiating the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) governing their compensation and job duties, among other things.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Air Transportation | 100% | By (c): the filing states a full-time equivalent total, a union share and the split between the mainline and the regional subsidiaries, all of them scheduled passenger airlines, so the whole workforce is read into the scheduled air transportation pattern. |
What the filing says about the workforce: About 139,100 active full-time equivalent employees, 86% union-represented; 33,100 at wholly-owned regional subsidiaries; the filing's table of union groups gives counts by craft, for example 14,970 pilots under the Allied Pilots Association.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Scheduled Air Transportation, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- United Airlines (UAL, 113,200 employees)17% now, 21% by 2028
- Delta Air Lines (DAL, 103,000 employees)17% now, 21% by 2028
- Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV, 72,790 employees)17% now, 21% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
27 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing says it relies heavily on technology and automated systems, including AI, to operate its business and names their failure as a risk; the human capital text captured does not mention it.
- “We rely heavily on technology and automated systems, including artificial intelligence (AI), to operate our business, and any failures could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. 6 Table of Contents Evolving data privacy requirements could increase our costs, and any significant cybersecurity incident could disrupt our operations, harm our reputation, expose us to le...”
- “We rely heavily on technology and automated systems, including AI, to operate our business and any failure of these technologies or systems could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.”
- “We are highly dependent on existing and emerging technology and automated systems, including AI, to operate our business.”
- “Additionally, new technologies, such as the use of AI and machine learning, present evolving and significant legal and operational risks for us and our third-party vendors.”
- “We use AI and machine learning technologies, including those licensed from third parties, in our technologies and our ability to continue to use such technologies at the scale may depend on access to specific third-party software and infrastructure.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 139,100 | 2026-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 133,300 | 2025-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 132,100 | 2024-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 129,700 | 2023-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 123,400 | 2022-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 102,700 | 2021-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 133,700 | 2020-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 128,900 | 2019-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 126,600 | 2018-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 122,300 | 2017-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 118,500 | 2016-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 113,300 | 2015-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 110,400 | 2014-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 77,750 | 2013-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 80,100 | 2012-02-15 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 78,250 | 2011-02-16 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 78,900 | 2010-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 84,100 | 2009-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2008-02-20 | 85,500 | 2008-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 86,600 | 2007-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 88,400 | 2006-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 92,100 | 2005-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 96,400 | 2004-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 109,600 | 2003-04-15 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | not read | 2002-02-28 | 10-K405 |
| 2000-12-31 | 4 | 2001-03-22 | 10-K405 |
| 1999-12-31 | 4 | 2000-03-27 | 10-K405 |
| 1998-12-31 | 92,000 | 1999-03-19 | 10-K405 |
| 1997-12-31 | 90,600 | 1998-03-27 | 10-K405 |
| 1996-12-31 | 88,900 | 1997-03-27 | 10-K405 |
| 1995-12-31 | 89,400 | 1996-03-21 | 10-K405 |
| 1994-12-31 | 90,300 | 1995-03-29 | 10-K405 |
| 1993-12-31 | 94,100 | 1994-03-31 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The headcount is a full-time equivalent count; the single pattern follows the description (c).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000006201-26-000014, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of American Airlines's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 17% now and 21% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce American Airlines's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does American Airlines employ?
- 139,100 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states, in full-time equivalents.
- What kinds of work make up American Airlines's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 1 industry staffing pattern, the largest Scheduled Air Transportation; by those patterns the work is about 21% desk work, 27% people work and 52% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does American Airlines's annual report say about AI?
- 27 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.